Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov insisted plans for a follow-on Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) trumped their concerns over Georgia, with which Russia fought a brief war last August.

In a sign of the importance the new administration attaches to improving relations with Russia, which plunged to a low under president George W. Bush, Clinton was to accompany Lavrov later to the Oval Office to meet President Barack Obama.

Wednesday's start of NATO war games in Georgia has rekindled tensions between Washington and Moscow, which is also unhappy with US support for Georgia's eventual membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

But Clinton said: "It is I think old thinking to say that we have a disagreement in one area, therefore we should not work on something else that is of overwhelming importance. That's just not the way we think.

"If you look at what we are doing on START and non proliferation, that has to do with the future safety of the world and the United States and Russia bear a special responsibility," she added. "So we are working very hard together."

Nodding in agreement was Lavrov, who stood next to her during a joint press conference in an ornate room of the State Department.

"The task of further reductions of strategic offensive weapons is too important for both Russia and for (the) US and, for the entire world in fact, to make it hostage of any particular regime anywhere around the globe," he said.

Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, when they met in London in March, pledged to seek a successor agreement to the landmark START treaty by the time it expires in December.

Russian and US diplomats then began the negotiations in Rome on April 24.

Signed in 1991, the START placed strict limits on the number of missiles and warheads that Moscow and Washington could have, leading to steep reductions in the nuclear arsenals of both sides.

Talks on replacing the START treaty -- seen as a cornerstone of strategic arms control -- made little progress under Bush.

The two top diplomats also said they discussed how to help to revive stalled multilateral negotiations for North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

They also discussed their joint participation in multilateral talks to press Iran to stop uranium enrichment that the United States fears is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.

But they gave no sign that they could agree on US calls for tougher UN Security Council sanctions against Iran if the Obama administration's policy to engage diplomatically with the Islamic Republic fails.

Lavrov said the two also discussed US plans to deploy an anti-missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland, formerly part of the Soviet sphere of influence.

The Obama administration has remained non-committal about pursuing the plans -- which the Bush administration said would protect against a future Iranian missile threat, but which Russia sees is a threat to its own security.

Lavrov showed more support for the Obama administration's efforts to crush resurgent extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan partly by involving neighbors of these countries in a solution.

"It (Russia) will actively support the growing interest for the regional factor in the settlement process, which is demonstrated now by the Obama administration."

earlier related report
Georgia opposition seeks Saakashvili talks
Georgia's opposition offered to hold talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili Thursday after clashes between police and protesters raised fears of unrest around controversial NATO exercises.

The clashes late Wednesday -- the first major outbreak of violence since opposition protests against Saakashvili began a month ago -- came only a day after Georgia said it had peacefully put down a mutiny.

They erupted the same day NATO launched month-long military exercises that have infuriated Russia and strained the alliance's ties with Moscow.

"We are ready to sit down, but to sit down with one person, Mikheil Saakashvili," opposition leader Salome Zurabishvili said at a press conference with other protest organisers.

"We think there is only one way, it's for this person to leave and to have presidential and parliamentary elections. If he knows any other way of getting out of the political crisis he should let us know," she added.

The opposition made the statement after meeting with foreign ambassadors, some of whom accused protesters of having sparked the clashes by attacking a police station.

"This attack... was a criminal act, absolutely intolerable in a democratic society and it must be condemned," said Czech ambassador Ivan Jestrab, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

Officials accused opposition supporters of trying to storm a main police station and said police had used truncheons to repel protesters trying to climb a fence around the building.

The opposition said police had attacked protesters and fired rubber bullets, which officials denied.

Police said 29 people were lightly injured in the clashes, including six officers.

In an apparent bid to cool the situation, officials released three detained opposition activists on bail following an appeal by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The clashes broke out after protesters had gathered at the police station to demand the release of the activists, who had been arrested for allegedly assaulting a television journalist.

A few thousand protesters gathered in the afternoon outside Georgia's parliament building in central Tbilisi, where the opposition had set up dozens of mock jail cells, and blocked the main street, Rustaveli Avenue.

Georgia and NATO on Wednesday kicked off the military exercises involving at least 1,100 soldiers from more than a dozen NATO countries and partners.

Russia fiercely objects to Georgia hosting the exercises and is also opposed to Georgia's bid to join the alliance.

Tbilisi initially accused Russia of backing an armed coup in Tuesday's mutiny -- an accusation Moscow described as "insane."

NATO will not cancel the exercise, Alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

"It was prepared long ago in full transparency with the Russians," he said during a visit to Slovenia Thursday.

In Washington, both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that tensions over Georgia would not affect their talks to replace a nuclear arms control treaty.

Clinton said any link between the two issues amounted to "old thinking," while Lavrov said arms reduction was too important to "make it hostage" to Moscow's dispute with Tbilisi.

Russia, which fought a brief war with Georgia in August over the rebel South Ossetia region, earlier this week announced the expulsion of two Canadian diplomats working for NATO in Moscow.

Security talks between Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian officials were also called off Thursday.

Numbers of protesters have dwindled since a peak of some 60,000 in the first days after demonstrations began on April 9.

Opponents accuse Saakashvili of having mishandled the five-day war and of having become increasingly autocratic since coming to power in 2003.

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